1 6 Lawson .* — The Gametophytes , Fertilization and 
nuclei in process of fusion, had these latter stages not been carefully studied 
beforehand (Fig. 36 ). As soon as they are formed these two free nuclei 
move towards the base of the archegonium. They travel but a very short 
distance in this direction, however, before the second division occurs. 
Each of them divides and we thus have four free nuclei in the pro-embryo. 
Fig. 37 represents a longitudinal section of the archegonium, at this time 
showing three of the four nuclei and their relative position to each other. 
The four of them are grouped very near to each other and are apparently 
not very far removed from the original position of the fusion-nucleus. 
In Taxns , Jager (’99) reports that the free nuclei are organized at the 
base of the archegonium, and a similar condition apparently occurs in 
Podocarpus (Coker, ’02). In Torreya the free nuclei are also found at the 
base of the archegonium, but the formation of walls between the nuclei 
takes place after the second division (Robertson, ’04), (Coulter and Land, 
’05). It will thus be seen that even in the early stages of the pro-embryo 
Cephalotaxus is unlike either of these types of the Taxaceae, and, as we 
shall point out, in the later stages the dissimilarity is much more 
striking. 
Very soon after the second division, all of the starch, ‘ proteid vacuoles,’ 
and other cytoplasmic granules sink to the lower or basal region of the 
egg, thus dividing the archegonium into two distinct and sharply differ- 
entiated parts. The less dense or upper part of the archegonium apparently 
becomes disorganized and functions no further, while the lower part or 
basal region becomes occupied with the free nuclei of the pro-embryo. 
Fig. 38 shows the differentiation of the pro-embryonal region at this time 
and that the free nuclei do not sink to the extreme base of the archegonium 
as they do at this stage in so many other Conifers. 
A third division of the free nuclei now follows, resulting in the 
formation of eight of them, and still there is no indication of cell-walls 
separating them. Fig. 39 shows a pro-embryo at this time ; six of the 
free nuclei are shown as well as their relative position to each other. It 
will also be observed that the free nuclei are arranged in tiers, two for each 
tier. The next division is followed by the formation of membranes 
between the nuclei and the organization of the first cells of the embryo. 
These cells are arranged in tiers, but this arrangement is not as clearly 
defined as that which prevails in the Abietineae and Cupressineae, where 
three sharply defined tiers are present. In certain stages three tiers were 
formed, and in others four could be distinguished. On account of irregular 
arrangement of the first cells that are formed and the rapid division that 
follows, it was difficult to say whether the fourth tier originated from 
a subdivision of the first tier at the tip or from the uppermost tier of 
nuclei. As Strasburger (’79) has pointed out, there is a group of terminal 
cells organized which serves as an organ of penetration. After a careful 
